The Dons dug themselves out of a 2-1 deficit in sets at home and pulled out a dramatic 18-25, 25-10, 23-25, 25-20, 16-14 victory in their Division 1 opener at an oven-like J.R. Richards Gym.

In the fifth set, Santa Barbara broke a 14-14 tie on a Los Alamitos foot fault violation and Holden Ploch blocked the Griffins’ 6-7 Zach Radner for the final point to earn the Dons a spot in the second-round on Thursday against defending division champion Mater Dei. Mater Dei also won a five-set home match against Long Beach Poly.

Thursday’s second-round match will be in Santa Barbara starting at 6:30 p.m.

“It’s a grind, that’s what Division 1 volleyball is, especially the first match,” said a relieved Arneson. “That’s probably the toughest one going into the playoffs. We were just able to get down and grovel and find a way to stay composed.”

It wasn’t easy against a Los Alamitos team that had two big middle attackers in Radner and 6-6 Matt Schnitzer. Making things more challenging for the Dons was the fact they were without the services of starting opposite hitter Casey Slaught. He was struck in the head by a spiked ball during pre-match warm-ups and felt woozy.

Slaught’s absence was felt in the first set as the Channel League champions (20-7) appeared out of sync.

But they regrouped in the second set and dominated the Griffins (20-9), the third-place team out of the Sunset League.

Ben Reisman filled in for Slaught and played well. He finished with seven kills and two big service aces.

“I give him props for coming in a playing good volleyball,” said Arneson.

“He’s been really clutch all season,” said outside hitter Nick Clark.

Clark had a huge part in the victory. He came up with several key kills on the left side, made some clutch digs and gave setter Gavin Trudeau some good passes to work with. He finished with a double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs.

“He just quietly gets things done,” Arneson said. “He’s got that beach presence. Today he pretty much was our MVP of the match.”

Clark used a beach-style, off-speed flick shot to give Santa Barbara the lead for good at 19-18 in the fourth set. In the fifth set, he recorded a huge side out to tie the score at 11-11.

“We had a slow start, but we made some changes and picked up our defensive intensity and passing and turned things around,” said Clark about his team’s play.

The outside hitting of Clark, Tristan Fauntleroy (team-high 13 kills) and Reisman was crucial for the Dons because of Los Alamitos’ size advantage in the middle.

Fauntleroy had a few impressive straight-down hits. In the fifth set, he crushed an overpass to give the Dons a 14-13 lead. He was also clutch down the stretch in the fourth set.

“They’re big, they’re good,” Clark said. “We had to find a way to keep (the ball) away from them.”

“They’re our bread and butter all year,” said Los Alamitos coach Mike Whitcomb, who played on national championship teams at UCLA.

Outside hitter Austin Arcala led the Griffins (20-9) with 19 kills.

Arcala’s tough serve capped a late four-point run to rally the Griffins to a comeback win in the third set.

Asked what he thought was the difference in the match, Whitcomb replied, “Inches.”

The Griffins had a point taken away when the two officials disagreed on a call at the net early in the fifth set. Los Alamitos was ahead 5-3 when the head official called for a replay. Santa Barbara tallied the next point to knot the score at 4-4.

“Probably the home court advantage for them,” Whitcomb continued about the outcome of the match. “In my opinion, we’re two pretty evenly matched teams and they just got a couple more points than we did.”

Arneson agreed the home-court advantage helped his team.

“In the end, home court comes into play,” he said. “That’s something we earned and that was useful for us.”

Home court advantage? Three major problems were very apparent to anybody watching the match. The first being both line refs were from Santa Barbara. Not one from each school and not two hired refs. The second problem was that every time the coach of the Dons was not happy with a call, he would yell at the refs. The third problem and by far the largest, was a ref that would overturn the call every time the Don‘s coach wasn‘t happy with the call.
In game five (the tie breaker game) there were three points overturned all of which went to the advantage of the Dons. All three times the Don’s coach would raise his voice at the down ref. The refs would have a pow wow and over turn the point. Then there was the phantom touch called against Los Alamitos at the 2:39 point of the video that cost Los Alamitos a fourth point. The coach from the Don’s said there were “a couple of unfortunate calls”. I’m not sure why with a smile on his face he calls them “unfortunate“. If it weren’t for the “unfortunate calls” he wouldn’t be smiling. How can he hold his head high and be proud of that win? The fifth game should not have even been close. Los Alamitos should be preparing for a match against Mater Dei.
I have been part of a lot of and wins and losses. Both are fun if the games are clean, although I don’t think anybody would disagree that it’s more fun to be part of a win. My frustration is not over a legitimate loss, it’s over a third team being involved in a game designed for two teams. The down ref should have brought his spine with him to the game and told the Don’s coach to sit down and watch the game. When two teams have worked hard an entire season to get to the CIF’s the refs should let the teams play. They should make their calls, sell their calls and stick to it. They should not get so involved that it changes the outcome of a game. One of the worst officiated sporting events I have ever witnessed. Home court advantage? If that’s what you choose to call it.
I do have to give credit where credit is due. The parents of the Santa Barbara team were very nice and pleasant and so were the players. They were all very welcoming to the Los Alamitos team and parents and for that I would like to say thank you.

TM2Fish

Home court advantage? Three major problems were very apparent to anybody watching the match. The first being both line refs were from Santa Barbara. Not one from each school and not two hired refs. The second problem was that every time the coach of the Dons was not happy with a call, he would yell at the refs. The third problem and by far the largest, was a ref that would overturn the call every time the Don‘s coach wasn‘t happy with the call.
In game five (the tie breaker game) there were three points overturned all of which went to the advantage of the Dons. All three times the Don’s coach would raise his voice at the down ref. The refs would have a pow wow and over turn the point. Then there was the phantom touch called against Los Alamitos at the 2:39 point of the video that cost Los Alamitos a fourth point. The coach from the Don’s said there were “a couple of unfortunate calls”. I’m not sure why with a smile on his face he calls them “unfortunate“. If it weren’t for the “unfortunate calls” he wouldn’t be smiling. How can he hold his head high and be proud of that win? The fifth game should not have even been close. Los Alamitos should be preparing for a match against Mater Dei.
I have been part of a lot of and wins and losses. Both are fun if the games are clean, although I don’t think anybody would disagree that it’s more fun to be part of a win. My frustration is not over a legitimate loss, it’s over a third team being involved in a game designed for two teams. The down ref should have brought his spine with him to the game and told the Don’s coach to sit down and watch the game. When two teams have worked hard an entire season to get to the CIF’s the refs should let the teams play. They should make their calls, sell their calls and stick to it. They should not get so involved that it changes the outcome of a game. One of the worst officiated sporting events I have ever witnessed. Home court advantage? If that’s what you choose to call it.
I do have to give credit where credit is due. The parents of the Santa Barbara team were very nice and pleasant and so were the players. They were all very welcoming to the Los Alamitos team and parents and for that I would like to say thank you.

LoveSB

I live near Santa Barbara High School and have for years. I love watching volleyball and try to make to as many of the High School games as possible. I was at the game against Los Alamitos and last nights game against Mater Dei. Both were fun and exciting games to watch.

Although I am a fan of the Don’s and think that Arneson has done a great job with the team, I have to say I agree with the above comment. Los Alamitos had every right to feel cheated after that game.